


Message through the press

by Snoozydog



Series: Sleeping arrangements [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Desperate Lestrade, Jealous John, M/M, POV Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Has a Plan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 04:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16339634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snoozydog/pseuds/Snoozydog
Summary: Lestrade makes a desperate move. Unfortunately everyone gets to see it.





	Message through the press

John’s face is like thunder in the background of the very intimate picture with the telling headline of “Internet boffin in heated kiss with detective inspector of Scotland Yard.” That is blazed over the front page of the Mirror.

Mycroft lowers the magazine with a sigh. He’s usually not in the habit of reading these kinds of papers to begin with, they are an abomination to mankind with their offending layout, but at the insistence of his assistant he has to conclude that it might have been a wise move to have made an exception today. If only for the sake of his brother’s continuing wellbeing. 

The picture is of Sherlock in locked embrace with non-other than detective inspector Gregory Lestrade, in something that Mycroft concludes must be some sort of onslaught that his brother wasn’t prepared for. That doesn’t mean that he’s agreeing with being kissed by Lestrade, all this picture proves is that the photographer, a teenage girl with a good camera phone available who just happened to pass by when said kiss happened, managed to snap a picture at just the exact moment Lestrades mouth assaulted his younger brother’s. What followed that event is not yet clear although Mycroft obviously will find out through CCTV soon enough. If nothing else, he’ll need to placate John Watson. Who is looking absolutely murderous at the inserted picture accompanying the bigger one. He doesn’t seem to have been present during the actual kiss, but the “journalists” from the The Mirror (and probably other tabloids as well) have seem to have sought him out. As John Watson is thought of as Sherlock Holmes boyfriend his reaction is naturally something they will want to see, to spin this story even further. And John is unfortunately feeding them just what they want by looking ready to kill someone at any second now.  
God lord.

Mycroft feels like he should do something about this mess but isn’t sure how to proceed. It is his own brother after all and anything to do with him usually never goes well. And then there is John who already from the very beginning showed Mycroft his defiance. The pair of them are Mycroft’s biggest headache on any day, now they are threatening him with a very public scandal in something so tawdry as the world of romance. Ugh. 

The problem is of course Sherlock. He has as of yet failed to see what John feels for him. Or if he has he has chosen to ignore it. Mycroft’s not completely sure which alternative is the most correct, it might be a little bit of both. Instead he has been focusing on his little strategy against Lestrade. Sleeping with people in the vicinity of the detective inspector, really? That’s not even a fully hatched plan, more like disaster waiting to happen. 

Mycroft knows what happened between Lestrade and Sherlock a couple of years ago and in a way he understands it, he felt angry too when he got the report and saw the CCTV-film of Lestrade sneaking his way into Sherlock’s flat at Montague Street while his little brother was out of his head on drugs. But he’s moved past it and never even put into action his own thought-out vendetta against the D.I. Not until he saw Sherlock inviting Sally Donovan of all people in to his flat for the first time did he understand that Sherlock had his own idea of dealing with a clearly pining Lestrade. A Lestrade who has clearly been reading every sign wrong since that night together or become pathetically desperate, because that kiss reeks of desperation and John Watson is not going to take it silently. The jealous rage in that man’s eye is smouldering through the paper in Mycroft’s hands. 

What Sherlock himself did after the kiss is still unclear, Mycroft feels like he really should get around to watch those recordings of CCTV so he will know what he’s dealing with and what lead to this outcome, but it’s all so banal, he’s not looking forward to getting involved. And that is a lot coming from a man who has spent most of his adult life doing just that, getting involved in other people’s lives, especially that of his brother’s.

He puts the paper away and contemplates the situation. He should probably order a car to get him to Baker Street and see what kind of damage control can be done. If he’s lucky this might mean that Sherlock will have to face the feelings John Watson is so adamant to keep hidden from him but are so obvious to everyone around them. That scenario could eventually turn into a positive development, Mycroft would be very glad to cement a more permanent caretaker in Baker Street than just a roommate even if he personally dislikes the idea of sentiment clouding people’s judgement. Sherlock so clearly needs a carer and a boyfriend could help Mycroft with that. But another scenario is that John will be so enraged that he decides to leave Baker street. That can’t happen. Mycroft sighs and levers himself out of the chair. Time to go interfere.


End file.
